Harold James meets Epans Saibot
by Sugar Bun-buns
Summary: On a summer vacation with the Weasleys, Harry ventures into and odd little shop, only to discover that the owner is Severus Snape! In a flurry to hide himself, he then casts a polyjuice spell on himself, thus sparking the start of a romantic relationship.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER** : I don't own Harry Potter or any of the other familiar characters. Harry Potter and the magical world if Hogwarts (and the like) belong to J.K. Rowling. No money is being made from this.

 **A/N:** _Hi and welcome to my second fanfic! ^_^ You can rest assured that this in particular story will have a sequel. Erm, the other Snarry fic_ The Man in Cloak _is still going on and I have no plans not to finish it. Thanks to all the reviewers that pointed out the major mistakes with certain spells. I don't even know how AVADA KEDAVRA could possibly slip through my mind like that, hehehehe._ _Everyone makes mistakes ^o^_

* * *

 _3 weeks earlier..._

 _Summer for Harry's 6th year was winding down. And as per usual, Harry packed his minimal belongings and dreaded the horrid feeling of misery that always accompanied him when he thought about having to re-live his days back with the Dudley's all over again._

 _But imagine his surprise the day before school ended, when Ronald Weasley excitedly told him that he'd gotten the approval from Dumbledore for Harry to stay with he and his family at the Burrows! Insisted, actually, were what Ron had said. Harry thought it was very strange. Very strange indeed. Considering, that Dumbledore was never one for allowing Harry an escape away from 14 Privet drive. But who was he to complain? Let alone question THE Dumbledore?_

 _They were in the common room late at night, Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They sat circled around one another, quietly whispering in the dark. Their wands glowed with a muttered, "Lumos"._

 _"Oh, I can't believe we won't be seeing each other again!" cried Hermione. "Promise me you'll write-the both of you. I mean that Ronald,"_

 _Ron rolled his blue eyes. "Honestly, 'mione, it's just summer vacation. That's like barley two months out of the year that we don't have school!"_

 _"Or see Snape," Harry added happily._

 _"Really," huffed Hermione as she straightened her back "Professor Snape is a perfectly capable teacher, and I'm sure the only reason he tends to scold you-"_

 _[And every other NON-Gryfindor...] Harry thought._

 _"-all the time is because you always fool about in his classes instead of paying attention. You, Ronald, Harry, and Seamus, and-"_

 _"Oi! You're gonna include Seamus in there too?" said Ron._

 _"It's the truth. Work harder in his class and I'm sure he'll turn around. Trust me."_

 _Harry sighed, suddenly tired. "Look, 'mione" he said. "He might grow to tolerate Ron and Seamus one day, but let's face it: when it comes to me, that man will never change."_

 _Ron patted him sympathetically on the back, whilst Hermione's face softened._

 _'Oh, Harry...don't talk like that..." she said kindly._

 _Harry shrugged, unbothered. "It doesn't matter anyway. I won't be seeing that greasy-haired bastard for 2 months. Nothing's going to ruin this summer, right Ron?"_

 _"Amen to that, brother. Amen."_

* * *

Present day...

"Alright," Mrs. Weasley said to the group in Diagon Alley, "We'll all meet back here in two hours. The last one to meet back here will do the grocery shopping for next week- Ginny, dear, stick close to me, will you? Get a move on, go on."

Fred and George left first, heading to toward a shop called "Gadote' Grandeur Gadgets". Mrs. Weasley shook her head before she dragged Ginny someplace else. After Mr. Weasley waved a jolly goodbye to the boys (Harry and Ron), he took out his portkey and apparated away.

Along the cobblestone road that led towards the east of the market square, Ron chatted animatedly and Harry nodded at the appropriate times, as he took pictures with the new wizard camera he'd gotten from Mr. Weasley a month before.

A side vendor sported two elves juggling orbs of cold fire. They threw the orbs into the air and they burst into fireworks. Harry took a picture of that too. Ron led them to a broomstick store where they spotted the newest _Spitfire V.4_ a rare limited edition. They stepped into the shop, eagerly. Ron spotted the shop keeper and sauntered over to him.

"How many of 'em exist in the world, do you reckon?" Ron asked the shop keeper in reference to the broomstick displayed in the glass case.

"Eh, possibly twenty worldwide, yea. Probably." replied Mr. Dryclaw. He wiped the glass case from fingerprints. "Don't suppose yer gonna be buyin' one, eh?"

Ron turned red fast. "I was just looking at it!"

The shop keeper shrugged. "Yea and I'm the-boy-who-lived, right...Now go! Scat!"

They hurried out fast. "The nerve-!" said Ron angrily.

"It was probably a fake anyways," muttered Harry. "If it was as rare as he said it was I doubt it'd be in his shop let alone in a place like this."

"Maybe." Ron wasn't convinced though.

After three other shops, Harry and Ron decided to split ways when an odd-looking shop happened to catch Harry's eye. He took off towards the store, squinting his green eyes to read the shop's sign. "Epans Remedial Shop" it read. Below: "Not an illness or curse/hex that can't be corrected". Hah, that looked promising. Harry knocked on the wooden door and it creaked open.

"Hello? Anyone here?" He hesitantly walked into the shop, taking in the interior despite it's dark outlook. His nose was assaulted with the thick, tangy aromas of incense, fuschia, mandrake, and ginger root.

He'd never seen anything like it before. The flooring wasn't fancy. Just a dark blue nylon colored floor, cool to the touch, harry realized.

Cauldrons of every shape and size bubbled and boiled in union. One of the cauldrons had a miniature thunderstorm floating on top, it shot small bolts of electricity every thirty seconds which resulted in a Whoosh! sound emitting from inside the black pot.

The room was dark enough that you could at the very least figure out your footing, but not enough to not run into something if you weren't careful. The walls bore full-sized bookshelves filled with tubulars, beakers, and tubes. Odd names such as:("Eyes of newt, Bat's spleen, Brain of dark crows, and Silver scales of Wit'r dragons") were written in bold, black ink.

The ceiling was enchanted. It had to be. For such a small shop, the rooftop looked never ending. A murial painted the top in the picture of a night sky that glittered with white stars spelled to zip and zag across. This place was beautiful. Magical. Who had created such beauty?

Harry walked over to one of the rows near the cashier counter. He picked up a strange jar that contained a gooey looking substance titled "MONSTER BLOOD". It gurgled, startling Harry in the process.

"Who's there? Show yourself." A voice called out.

Harry almost dropped the Monster Blood jar, his heart in overdrive from the unexpected intrusion.

"Uh, I'm a customer!" Harry shouted back nervously. "I just came in, but you weren't there." Okay, okay. Not good. Not good!

"Then please come up to the counter, if you will." said the voice.

For some reason the voice sounded familiar. Harry quickly put down jar. Just as he was about to come from behind the shelves, he took a quick step back in shock. The man at the counter was no other than Professor Snape! What kind of bad luck was this?!

Then it dawned on him. The name "Epans" was "Snape" spelled backwards! The shop belonged to his dreaded potions professor!

Footsteps approached the other side of the shelves Harry hid behind. " _Oh Merlin! I'm done for now,"_ thought Harry grimly. Then he had an idea.

Two summers ago, Hermione had taught him a spell that was somewhat like that of the polyjuice potion. It only changed your height, nose, body size, and hair color. The eyes, unfortunately, stayed the same.

Harry quickly whispered the incantation, tapped his head with his wand, and closed his eyes. Instantly, he could feel his nose contour, his cheek bones rising or were they falling? His limbs extending to adjust to the new position of appendages. When at last he deemed himself totally finished, he sighed shakily.

Would the change be recognizable?

Would Snape figure him out immediately?

Would his body ever be found?

Harry was about to find out, because a dark shadow fell above him and he came face-to-face with Professor Snape.


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Harry Potter or any such related works or her characters. J. owns everything including the magical world of Hogwarts. No money is being made from this.

* * *

 **A/N:** _Gomen..._" I'm so sorry for the late update. There really isn't any excuse for it. Please enjoy and accept this new chapter ^_^ Review as well, it really makes me happy. Enjoy! Oh and if you haven't please check out my other stories. They will be updated shortly as well^^_

* * *

The room was too dark to see the other person clearly- the lit candle at the counter remained further a ways.

Snape squinted his eyes. "Just what on Earth are you doing huddled behind here?" He asked.

Harry kept his eyes cast down just in case. "Er, I was, uh...just looking?" It sounded just like a question in his ears and he mentally kicked himself for sounding so pathetic. "It's just a bit dark in here, so I'll just be leaving-"

Snape interuppted him. "Nonsense. You're obviously in search of something, otherwise you wouldn't be here." He motioned for Harry to follow him back to the cashier counter where there was more light.

"I am?" Harry asked, puzzled.

"Yes. This shop is enchanted, you see. Only those of a particular object are drawn into this store's vicinity."

They had finally reached the counter. Snape went to the other side of the counter and whispered a silent "Lumos" and suddenly the whole room was filled with light. Harry blinked his eyes at the sudden intrusion on his retinas.

"Here, sign this." Snape slid a parchiment and a quill pen to him.

Harry quickly glanced up before looking down again and asked, "What is this supposed to be?"

"It's a finders form."

"Oh," What did that mean?

Snape gave an annoyed sigh, noticing the look of confusion on the young man's face. "A finders form is used to notify I or the store on a certain customer's findings. Consider it like a charm, only physically more legal."

Harry nodded. It seemed harmless enough, what did he have to loose? He picked up the quill, scrolling through the words, filling in the sheet as he read;

 _NAME: Harold James_

He silently chuckled to himself. The first part was the elongated version of his name and the last name was his father's.

 _AGE:_ Harry pondered this and hastily wrote down ( _23 years old_ ). It sounded adultish and young at the same time. Seeing as he didn't even know what he looked like, it was safer to assume that he'd definitely got older looking.

"Harold James?" Snape murmured from above him, skeptically. Startled, Harry snapped his eyes up and froze.

Snape had an odd expression on his face as they both stared at each other. Harry had never noticed it before, but Snape's eyes weren't just dark brown, but instead a bleached black coloration, barley above being considered obsidian. They were surprisingly beautiful.

Harry almost groaned when the potions master turned his face away with a haunted experession.

"Have...Have we met before?" asked Snape quietly.

Harry felt like such a fool. Of course his eyes didn't change! He'd blown his cover with only himself to blame.

Playing innocent, Harry replied. "I don't think so...prehaps I've just got one of those faces . Common features, that sort of thing, you know."

Snape lightly shook his head, the gesture strangely out of place. "I suppose so," he muttered. "You just reminded me of a woman I was knew is all. She had the same colored eyes as you do."

He knew he shouldn't but Harry was never one to simply keep quiet. "Who was she?" He blurted out. Heat rose to his cheeks. "Sorry."

"I highly doubt that that is _any_ of your business, Mr. James." There was a cold pause and then, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm quite busy in the back room. So if you've come to buy, then buy. If not, then make use of the door behind you and leave."

Snape brushed past Harry until the sound of footsteps could no longer be heard.

Harry felt flustered and enraged. Hadn't the greasy-haired bastard ever heard of _customer service_? How dare he talk to him that way?

Harry bit down on his tongue to stop the troll of deregatory name calling that fought to come out of his mouth.

He rubbed his chest, grimacing. He still felt weird. Yet there was no doubt in his mind that the woman Snape was referring to was his deceased mother, Lily Evans neè Potter.

* * *

At the burrow, Mrs. Weasley was up and about spell-casting brooms and dishes, sending them off to various destinations. It had been four days since Harry had step foot in Epans Remedial Shoppe because any time he even thought about going back there a feeling of sheer nervousness and a ting of something he could only identify as fear would set into him. It reminded of the time when he was a young boy frightened of starting his first day of first grade. Petunia made sure her 'Little Dudleykins was all washed up and clean, and when said 'Dudleykins cried just enough to tug on his aunt's heart strings, he was allowed to stay home. Harry on the other hand was given a spanking on his left butt cheek and sent straight to school with a sore bum.

 _Prehaps,_ Harry though one evening. _I'm simply scared to face Snape in the disguise._ What other reason did he have?

"Reason, indeed." Harry startled, his head turned to the direction of the doorway to spot Fred and George leaning against the frame. Mischievous grins adorned their faces as they walked in.

"Did I say that aloud?" Harry asked nervously. Merlin save him if he had said Snape's name.

"Yes, you did." said George. "But ignoring that..." Fred crept up behind his brother and it was then that Harry finally noticed that they held something behind their back, making him wary.

The Weasley twins were harmless enough but they were infamous for their pranks and jokes. Harry was a victim and sometimes more than often the butt-end in their schemes.

"Harry, old chap," George said dramatically. "I don't suppose you can keep a secret, yeah? It would be very dreadful if you can't. Isn't that right, Fred;"

"Very dreadful, George." replied Fred. "Then we'd have to hex you."

They both chuckled. Harry narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"What is it?" He asked.

"This," George said as he revealed a small vial from behind his back. "is the future-"

"Atleast, The Weasley Joke Foundation future, that is-" Fred piqued.

"It creates an almost instant happy-"

"The clearest and most charming memory-"

"But its got a few quirks-"

"Bloody hell, George! It's got more than a few quirks." Fred glanced at Harry, "And by quirks we mean the bad parts too."

George rolled his eyes. "There is (nothing) bad about it, Fred. We're just missing a few vital ingrediants, that's all."

"Like what exactly?" Harry asked.

Fred and George glanced at each other, grinning.

"Well...that's where you come in." said George. "We'll pay you back."

"Promise." Fred agreed.

"The things we're searching for are a bit out of our league. Price related." George admitted. "Which is a lot."

Harry thought it over. "If I can get you all the things you need, I want two vials for myself (and) absolutely no pranking or spell casting on my expense, deal?"

Fred and George beamed at the offer. "Well, lad. You've struck yourself a grand deal. We accept."

* * *

Earlier in the summer, Harry had gotten into a habit of corresponding back and forth to Hermione through a magical journal she'd bought on his birthday. It looked like a normal book out front and it worked very much like the diary of Tom Riddle. Whatever Harry wrote in the book, Hermione would receive it and vice versa. He'd already wrote to her about discovering Snape in the carnival, checking underneath his pillow the moment Fred and George left, Harry opened the first page.

 _Snape's in the market?! Harry, I want you to be very, very careful, do you understand? You know how much of a temper you have and seeing Professor Snape there might set off some alarms. Keep a cool head and think about whatever it is you are doing. In other news, tell Ron that I've bought him a muggle newsletter for his father to read and that I'll send it by owl as soon as possible. Also tell him that even though I may not be there, that is no excuse for him ti not have proper manners in etiquette. Is it that hard to chew with one's mouth closed? Truly?_

Harry chuckled. He could imagine her shuddering in disgust.

 _Mum and Dad have gone absolutely mad! They're supposed to be dentists but just yesterday, Mum went into a candy store, bought a bucket full of taffy, and ate the whole canister. And that's not even the worse part. Hear this; they didn't even brush their teeth! Apparently, ever since they discovered what magic can do in terms of dental care, they've decided to re-live their childhood days. I don't know how to handle this. They need a bit of a reminder on consequences. I believe it's time for desperate measures._

 _Write soon,_

 _Hermione._

Harry flipped the page and picked up his feathered quill pen. Outside the sun shown brightly against the blue sky. Smiling to himself, he rather felt an urge to go flying this day. He quickly scribbled a note in the journal and lept of the bed.

"Oi! Ron! Where'd you put my broom at?" He yelled before rushing down stairs.

 _Hermione, breath. I've got a cool head. Don't worry. Fred and George gave me a list to work with, it's some new potion they've been working on, and no I'm not going to tell you. I'll be heading to the market tomorrow. Wish me luck, yea? Love you._

 _Love,_

 _Harry_


End file.
